We want cheap power
Apropos “A structural problem” (June 28), indeed most of us do not even bother to think that despite power production increasing in recent years, why have our tariffs only increased. Actually we have reconciled with this fact. It is good that the writer has brought this issue up and informed that in many countries, like the US and Australia, companies are charging wholesale prices from their consumers, unlike India, where we do not even have the option to choose like we do among telecom players. More interestingly, if we can also opt for renewable energy at a much cheaper rate, what more can we ask for.
I agree with writer’s views that the NITI Aayog and power regulators need to think on these lines before any private company enters into the sector with a disruptive market strategy like Reliance Jio and take everyone by surprise. Last but never the least, the government needs to think differently here. Imagine if a consumer pays less for power, he will end up with more cash in hand, which will lead to more consumption of other products, so the economy will be directly benefited if we all get cheaper power.
Bal Govind Noida sovereignty and impinge on its right to have its own foreign policy. But then they were only meant to be a bargaining chip to gain more regional power. Doha has dismissed them as “not actionable”. Iran and Turkey have rallied to Qatar’s support and cushioned the targeted country from the worst effects of the economic blockade imposed by the key members of the Gulf Corporation Council.
Washington tries to keep a foot in both camps; on the one hand it holds that Qatar is a strategic ally in the fight against terror and on the other hand it lends its weight to the Saudi-led bloc. It finetunes its foreign policy based on arms sales. Even as it sees the crisis as no more than a “family feud”, it encourages the Emir of Kuwait to mediate to resolve the crisis. We have a stake in the developments as over 8 million of our compatriots work in these countries in addition to our dependence on oil supplies from them. Efforts to heal the rift between Qatar and its fraternal neighbours must succeed in the interests of stability and peace in the region and the world.
G David Milton Maruthancode